On their biggest stage of the season Thursday night at the Missouri Valley Conference tournament, the Bradley Braves dug themselves a hole too big to overcome.

Trailing Drake by 17 points late in the first half at Scottrade Center, BU whacked the margin to three twice down the stretch before the Bulldogs pulled away for an 81-66 victory.

“We took a hit in the middle of the first half (when Drake used a 16-4 spurt to take an 11-point lead),” said BU forward Jake Eastman. “We had to claw our way back and we couldn’t quite get over the hump.”

The loss eliminated Bradley (16-16) from this tournament in the play-in round for the second successive year to Drake (15-16), which advanced to Friday’s noon quarterfinal game against top-seed Creighton.

“It’s very disappointing,” said BU guard Dyricus Simms-Edwards, who was just 1-for-10 from the field for two points and no steals. “It’s just hard to swallow right now.”

BU began its long climb upward from a 17-point deficit by scoring the final eight points of the first half. The comeback continued in the second half, but Drake would often match a BU mini-run with a big shot.

Bradley closed to within 58-55 at 9:04 on an Eastman rebound basket, but Drake followed with a 3-pointer by Gary Ricks, Jr.

At 6:33, Tyshon Pickett’s tough driving shot cut the gap to 62-59. Ultimately, that was the Braves’ last gasp as the Bulldogs then embarked on a 13-0 run to seal the win.

“We felt like if we took care of the ball, we’d get a decent shot,” said Drake coach Mark Phelps. “We’ve really been focusing on it. I think that was the key tonight. We had good ball movement, we took care of the ball and guys stepped up and made shots when they needed to.”

“The points off the bench is a killer,” Ford said. “Thirty-seven to nine is a whitewash. You’re not going to get outscored 37-9 and win.”

Said Phelps: “We felt like the strength of our team would be depth. It really showed itself clearly tonight.”

A big play during the late Drake run was a dead-ball technical foul whistled on Pickett. Drake led 66-59 and Pickett fouled VanDeest.

But a moment later, Pickett and King became entangled and Pickett pushed him off.

The replay showed that Pickett made contact with King above the shoulders, which is an automatic technical. Since Pickett had three personals before the play, he was fouled out as Simons sank both technical free throws.

Page 2 of 2 -
“I meant to foul VanDeest and make him go to the line,” Pickett said. “The other dude (King) jumped on me and I tried to get him off me. They said I shoved him hard, which was pretty much unfair. I know I foul a lot, but I wasn’t trying to get a technical foul. Why would I do that to my team?”

Said King: “There was just a little shove, nothing really to talk about.”

Besides Simms-Edwards’ struggles, BU leading scorer Walt Lemon carried just seven points into the final 3 minutes before scoring seven late points to finish with 14.

Eastman and Will Egolf paced the Braves with 15 points apiece as each hit a trio of 3-pointers. The pair also combined for 15 rebounds.

“Coach told us after the game how much he appreciated what the seniors have done,” Eastman said. “Hopefully we can get a postseason bid in one of the other tournaments. But if not, we’ll be happy with what we did this year. Hopefully we turned the program around for good.”

Dave Reynolds can be reached at 686-3210 or dreynolds@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @davereynolds2.

Report Card: Bradley vs. Drake

FRONTCOURT: B

Good efforts by Will Egolf (15 points, 7 rebounds) and Jake Eastman (15 points, 8 rebounds). Tyshon Pickett (11 points, 4 rebounds) had an unfortunate technical foul that came during Drake's final run.

BACKCOURT: C

Walt Lemon's penetration was limited, but he was decent in finding perimeter shooters. Dyricus Simms-Edwards had a terrible game offensively (1-for-10, 2 points), but his defense was mostly solid.